Will Science Come to Aid of Galapagos Bachelor? Tune In

By ERIC NAGOURNEY

Published: November 9, 1999

Scientists think they now know why Lonesome George, the Galapagos Islands' most eligible bachelor, can't seem to have a meaningful relationship.

George was the only giant Galapagos tortoise found when scientists from the Charles Darwin Research Station visited his island, Pinta, in 1971 and came upon a land ravaged by centuries of trapping and the feral goats, rats and other creatures sailors had left behind. Researchers, believing him to be the last of his subspecies, rescued George and took him to their headquarters on the island of Santa Cruz.

Over the years, scientists from the Darwin center have bred 2,000 tortoises and set them free on the islands where their subspecies, decimated by humans, originated. Hoping someday to do the same for George, they put him in the same living area as female tortoises of other subspecies. The idea was at least to hone his social skills should another Pinta tortoise be found.

Reasoning that one can never go wrong with the girl next door, they chose tortoises from the island of Isabela, which neighbors Pinta in the northern reaches of the archipelago.

But George would have none of it.

''There was not mating activity or even interest displayed by George,'' said Dr. Howard Snell, a herpetologist at the Darwin station.

Researchers worried that perhaps there was something wrong with the tortoise. ''An alternative hypothesis,'' Dr. Snell said, ''is that George is a discerning Pinta tortoise, and he's not particularly interested in tortoises that are not of his island.''

Now a new study seems to support that explanation. Researchers say they were surprised to discover through DNA analysis that George's closest relatives are not from neighboring Isabela, but from the islands of San Cristobal and Espanola -- at 180 miles to the south, the farthest Galapagos islands from Pinta.

The study, published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, focused not on George but on finding the genetic origins of all the tortoises. It concludes that the closest living link to the Galapagos tortoise, or Geochelone nigra, is probably a relatively small tortoise found in South America.

It was on the Galapagos Islands that Darwin -- fascinated by the giant tortoises, which can grow to five feet and more than 600 pounds -- developed the theory of evolution.

The new information about George, said Dr. Jeffrey R. Powell of Yale, an author of the study, suggests that the Darwin station scientists should consider introducing George to females from San Cristobal and Espanola. As fate would have it, some are being kept as part of the breeding population on Santa Cruz only a short distance from the tortoise's quarters.

But Dr. Snell said that while that might happen, it would not be any time soon. Scientists first want to continue efforts to find a true Pinta female for George, so his subspecies can be preserved, and this could take several years. (George is believed to be at least 50; Galapagos tortoises can live more than 150 years.) They are renewing a search for other tortoises on Pinta, which, thanks to a goat eradication program, is once again lush. Using the DNA analysis, they will also seek to see whether any female tortoises in captivity elsewhere are from Pinta.

For scientists at the center, the main issue is not, as Dr. Snell put it, ''George's well-being as an individual,'' but what will best help restore the ecology of the Galapagos. The Darwin center is reluctant to pair George with a San Cristobal or Espanola female from the breeding program, because that would slow the tortoise repopulation efforts and yield offspring of questionable value.

On the other hand, if scientists decide that reintroducing even a mixed subspecies of tortoise onto Pinta would help the island's ecology, they will consider trying again to find George a mate.

Photo: A DNA study may explain why Lonesome George of the Galapagos has failed to mate. His closest relatives are from islands 180 miles away. (Heidi Snell)